A solar cell module includes a plurality of solar cell elements and interconnectors that electrically connect that plurality of solar cell elements.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2009-164212, and the like, such an interconnector may be formed by causing wiring material, which is wound on a bobbin, to be drawn from the bobbin, to be traveled past a plurality of pulleys, and then to be cut to desired length.
At this time, the wiring material is made to move in the axial direction of the bobbin as it is wound about the winding surface of the bobbin. For this reason, when the wiring material is drawn from the bobbin as well, the winding surface will likewise move in reciprocating fashion in the axial direction of the bobbin as the wiring material is drawn therefrom.
In addition, for a manufacturing device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2009-164212, a pulley arranged downstream from a bobbin includes at the periphery thereof a groove which has a rectangular cross-section. With pulleys such as the foregoing, it has sometimes been the case that stresses which tend to produce in-plane bending in wiring material drawn from the bobbin have acted thereon and have caused occurrence of folding in the in-plane direction therein. That is, where a manufacturing device such as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2009-164212 has been used, there have been cases in which the interconnector formed by cutting wiring material which has traveled past the aforementioned pulley has exhibited folding in the in-plane direction in a planar view.
Note that, here and below, bending in a plane which contains the principal plane of the wiring material is referred to as in-plane bending, and a direction parallel to a plane which contains the principal plane of the wiring material and perpendicular to the length direction of the wiring material is referred to as the in-plane direction. Furthermore, bending in a direction perpendicular to a plane which contains the principal plane of the wiring material is referred to as out-of-plane bending, and a direction perpendicular to a plane which contains the principal plane of the wiring material is referred to as the out-of-plane direction.
Where an interconnector having such curvature in the in-plane direction has been used to connect a plurality of solar cell elements, there has been a possibility that the interconnector is arranged so as to protrude out of the output electrodes of the solar cell elements. As a result, there have been cases where the effective light-receiving surface area of the light-receiving surfaces of the solar cell elements has been lowered and efficiency of electric power generation has been reduced.
Accordingly, in the context of a device and method for manufacturing a solar cell module in which an interconnector is used to electrically connect a plurality of solar cell elements, improved efficiency of electric power generation and improved reliability of the solar cell module have been sought.